Unheeded Warning
The 1965 Report on CO2 and Climate Change
“Through his worldwide industrial civilization, Man is unwittingly conducting a vast geophysical experiment. Within a few generations he is burning the fossil fuels that slowly accumulated in the earth over the past 500 million years … The climatic changes that may be produced by the increased CO2 content could be deleterious from the point of view of human beings. The possibilities of deliberately bringing about countervailing climatic changes therefore need to be thoroughly explored.”
These words were contained in a report authored by prominent climate scientists entitled “Restoring the Quality of Our Environment.” It was sent to US President Lyndon Johnson on 5 November 1965.
The scientists, including Roger Revelle, Wallace Broecker and Harmon Craig, concluded that although CO2 was an invisible trace gas, it had a significant impact on the Earth’s climate.
Their report predicted that rising CO2 levels from the burning of fossil fuels would result in the melting of the Antarctic ice cap, rising sea levels, the warming of sea water and increased acidity of fresh waters.
They suggested countering the effects of the increased CO2 by raising the albedo, or reflectivity, of the earth “by spreading very small reflecting particles over large oceanic areas.” This proposal would have brought about a 1% change in reflectivity and cost $500 million a year.
This was all long before climate science became highly politicized. No Senator’s turned up in Congress with a snowball in an attempt to disprove the report.
President Lyndon Johnson, however, was keen on expanding industrial civilization into Vietnam at that time. Pesky carbon stores, like forests, were useful hiding places for Vietnamese soldiers and needed to be liquidated.
